Counter and toe stiffener for boots and shoes.



W. B. WHITE. COUNTER AND TOE STIFFENER FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

' APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1013.

1,088,31 3. Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

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0 rney UNTT STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

WARREN B. WHITE, OF NORTH ABINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COUNTER AND TOE STIFFENER FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Application filed September 17, 1913. Serial No. 790,325.

ter and Toe Stiffeners for Boots and Shoes,

of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Counter and toe stiffeners such as are employed in the manufacture of shoes usually are shaped by a molding operation to fit the lasts used in lasting the shoes. In the said operation the inturned flange of a stiffener is produced by turning or bending the lower integral portion of a blank inwardly and pressing or ironing the same to give the required set thereto to cause it to stand at or nearly at right angles to the upright bodypo-rtion of the stiffener. The excess of material in the flange is formed into crimps, which are flattened down in the pressing or ironing operation. The heel-seat constituted by the inturned flange of a counterstiffener, for instance, should be flat, and a right-angled bend with square outer side to the stiffener are highly desirable. These features are difficult to produce in the case of a molded stiffener, and inasmuch as the leather or other material of which stiffeners are made, when bent to form an angle, shows a tendency to flatten down again so as to lose the required angle, a well-defined angular bend and the requisite flatness of the crimped heel-seat do not always remain. If a molded stiffener becomes damp or jammed the corner or bend loses its well-defined sharpness or angularity and becomes rounded, and the flange tends to straighten out into line with the upright portion. Consequently neither a good heel-seat, a well-defined angular bend, nor a straight outer side remains. When the flange departs from the desired angle, it will not fit well against the heel-seat of the last. Hence, in the lasting process it frequently becomes necessary to flatten the heel-seat of a counter-stiffener by pounding, and also to square-up the outer side of the stiffener by beating with an iron. In some cases stiffeners molded as aforesaid are wet or moistened for the purpose of putting them in temper, to thereby facilitate working the flange of a stiffener into place upon a last. When thus wet or moistened the stiffener partially loses the shape which was given to it in the molding operation, so that the shoulder or bend produced by moldlng disappearsmore or less completely, and the laster then has to depend largely upon hiseye in bending or breaking the flange v around the edge of the last and into place for the heel-seat of the shoe. It is diflicult forhim, in so doing, to bend or break the V stiffener with such accuracy that in the finished shoe the upper edge oftlie stiffener shall stand at exactly the right height, and hence-it frequently results that the top edge of a stiffener stands too high or too low in the finished shoe. A departure of even so small an amount as one-eighth of an inch from the correct position injures a shoe.

One general object of the invention is to provide for securinga perfect flange or heel-- seat extending inward at the proper angle from the body-portionof a stiffener, and also a square angular corner, which are things that cannot be obtained, or at any rate are difficult to attain, when the flange or heel-seat is produced by a bending and molding operation. By attaining this object I provide for a satisfactorysnug fit of the flange of a stiffener against the heel-seat of a last, and also for the desired appearance of the shoe around the lower part of the stiffener next the sole. The laster is enabled to push the heel-seat of a stiffener close to the last, pounding is more or less completely obviated, and time is saved.

A second general object of the invention is to produce a stiflener which will stand being wetted or moistened without losing the angle of the heel-seat or the square corner, and thereby obviate bending of the stiffener by the laster to form a flange.

A third general object is to provide for a more advantageous use of material, as well as to enable stifl'eners to be made of smaller pieces of material, and to utilize what is now practically waste.

A fourth object of the invention is to obviate the skiving of the lower portion of a stiffener, heretofore necessary to facilitate the bending of such portion to form a flange or heel-seat, and by obviating such skiving thereby retain the full original substance and thickness of such portion of the stiffener.

. A fifth object of the invention is to insure uniformity of height from the heel-seat up, of counter-stiffeners in the different shoes of a lot.

Briefly stated, the invention consists in a stiflener in which the body and the flange I are formed of separate pieces ofmaterial se- Embodiments of the invention are shown cured together by fastenmg means in a permanent angular relationship. The fastening'means may be eitherstitches or wire fastenings, although the employment of other convenient fastenings is not precluded.

The invention is applicable equally in the case of counter-stifleners and toe-stifl'eners. For convenience I have shown it embodied in counter-stiifeners, but the invention is not restricted to these latter. I

in the drawings, in which latter,- Figure 1 isa side elevation of a counter-l stiffener embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a view thereofin' vertical section. Fig. 3 is afront view of the said counter-stiffener. Fig. 4. is a sectional view of a counter-stiffener having a modified joint between the be used in the manufacture of a stiflener embodying the invention. Fig. 6 shows the piece of material which is removed by a skiving operation from the blank of Fig. 5 and employed byme for the flange of a stiff- Fig. 7 is a view in cross-section on line 7, 7, of Fig. 6.

Having reference to the drawings,-the body-portion 1 of the stiffener, and the flange 2, consist of separate and distinct pieces of material joined together in such manner that the flange stands at an angle with relation to the body portion. The lower edge-portion of the upright body-portion and the outer edge-portion of the flange are fitted together in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 by butting'the lower edge of the body-portion, i. 0., .the terminal surface at thebottom of said body-portion, against the upper face of the outer margin of the flange, and they are secured together by fastenings 3 shown as stitches extending obliquely downward within the thickness of the body-portion and through the thickness of the outer margin of-the flange. Wire or other suitable fasten- .ingsmay be employed, but I prefer stitches because the stitching operation may be performed quickly and conveniently by means of a suitable sewing machine. Either a square seam may be produced, or a so-called diagonal or French seam as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the lower edge of the body-portion 1 is shown in contact .with theupper surface of the margin of the flange 2, and secured thereto by the fastenings 3. One of-the parts thereby united, as will be seen, butts by its edge against one flat marginal face of the other. of the said ,parts. In Fig. the meeting surfaces, 2'. 6.,

tenings 3 pass from the outside of the bodyportion 1 obliquely downward and through the lower edge-portion of the body-portion and the outer edge-portion of the flange. The edges of the two parts thus united butt against each other. After the stitching operation, the stiffener may be pressed or molded to give the same the required horse-shoe form and flatten out the crimps in the flange, or it may be delivered to the laster in an un molded state and by him be shaped to apply to a last.

As will be perceived, in the case of a stillener embodying the invention, the place of the angle between the flange and the upright body-portion is defined by the joint between the body and the flange, which determines exactly where the said angle between the two shall be located. v

It is customary to skive the upper and lower margins of a stiffener-blank so as to produce feather-edges thereon, as at 4 in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, and as shown in the case of the flange 2. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate how economy of labor and material may be secured in carrying the invention into effect. Thus, referring to Fig. 5, a blank for a counter-stiifener of a width from its top edge to its bottom edge equal to the height of the body-portion of a stiffener is taken and skived around the ends and along the top edge thereof by making a diagonal cut within the thickness thereof, the width to which the blank is skived being indicated by the dotted line 5 in Fig. 5. The narrow beveled and feather-edged strip which is thus skived off from the blank is taken and employed as the flange, as in Figs. 1 to 4. Thereby all but the excess of length at the ends of the skived-off strip is embodied in'the stiffener, and the employment of a flange otherwise produced is obviated. Only one skiving operation is necessary in securing the required feather-edges for the top of the body-portion and for the flange, the lower edge of the body portion being left unskived. This method of manufacturing stiifeners forms the subject of claim in my application for U. S. Letters Patent filed May 2 1, 1912, Serial NO. 769,611.

l/Vhat is claimed as the invention is- 1. A stiffener for employment in the manufacture of boots and shoes comprising, :in combination, a bodyportion, and an inwardly-extending flange formed of a separate and distinct piece of material, one of said parts butting by its edge upon a marginal face of the other of said parts and securedthereto so as to make an angular joint therewith.

v 2. A stiffener for employment in themanufacture of boots and shoes comprising, in combination, a bodyportion, and an inwardly-extending flange formed of a separate and distinct piece of material, one of the said parts butting by its edge upon a marginal face of the other of said parts and secured thereto so as to make a right-angled or substantially right-angled angular joint therewith.

8. A stiffener for employment in the manufacture of boots and shoes comprising, in combination, a body-portion, and an inwardly-extending flange formed of a separate and distinct piece of material, one of the said parts butting by its edge upon a marginal face of the other of said parts and stitched thereto so as to make an angular joint therewith.

4:. A stiffener for employment in the manufacture of boots and shoes comprising, in combination, a body-portion, and an inwardly-extending flange formed of a separate and distinct piece of material, one of said parts butting by its edge upon the body of the other of said parts and secured thereto so as to make an angular joint therewith.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WARREN B. WHITE. Witnesses:

CHAS. F. RANDALL, NATHAN B. DAY.

Qopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. O. 

